Kenyan sports minister barred from parliament

Nairobi, May 3 (IANS) Kenyan Sports Minister Paul Otuoma has been barred from parliament until he responds to a question posed by an MP on national football team captain Denis Oliech's decision to quit the team.

Otuoma failed to show up to respond to a question posed by Peris Simam, prompting Speaker Gitobu Imanyara to pass the temporary restraint orders, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

"In accordance to the standing orders, the minister will not be permitted to transact any further business in this house until he has given a satisfactory explanation to the speaker and the speaker has accepted it," Imanyara stated in his ruling.

Simam had sought to establish from the minister whether it was true that Oliech resigned from the national team due to the use of his image without his consent.

The France-based striker announced his intention to retire from the national side last month after the side's sponsors, East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) used his image in a billboard without consulting him.

So far intervention by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and world governing body FIFA has failed to resolve the issue which means Kenya will have to play their 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers and 2014 World Cup without their leading scorer.

Head coach Francis Kimanzi said Tuesday that Oliech was still considering playing in the World Cup qualifier against Malawi June 2 and the return leg of their Nations Cup knock-out match against Togo June 15.

Simam also asked what measures the Sports Minister is taking to ensure that payments are made to sportsmen like Oliech and Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo, whose images were used in advertisements by companies without their knowledge.

"This year is an Olympics year and private companies will keep using our athletes names to advertise without any due to them. This question should not be dropped and the minister should be named for not coming to answer the question," said MP Davy Koech.